Tehran "Tay" Riddle
Cynical, jaded, and more than a little suspicious, there are few people in the galaxy who would consider Captain Riddle to be a hospitable person. Nevertheless, he is loyal to those he trusts, and driven to succeed at those things that matter to him, which puts him a cut above most. Tay has an odd way about him, which works out because he is a fairly odd person in his own right. At 5' 10" and around 160 lbs, he is hardly an intimidating figure. He has a thin frame, and tends to wear an overabundance of clothing due to a skin condition that leaves his skin sensitive to the touch and sometimes subject to irritations and inflammations. He has an albino appearance, with absolutely no skin or hair pigment. He does, however, have pigmented eyes, leaving him with deep blue eyes that contrast very sharply with his alabaster skin. Tay typically keeps his hair cut short, though will sometimes let it grow out a bit longer. Most commonly, his hair is buzzed just long enough to keep his scalp from being irritated by any clothing he is wearing. While Tay might not be considered the most friendly of people by most, he does have a great deal of people skills: when he chooses to employ them. He is a shrewd negotiator, and good at reading people. History Raised on the rather uninspiring world of Caldasi, Tay dreamed of joining the Royal Army of the Terran Monarchy, of being part of a team and serving the greater good. Unfortunately, when he reached enlistment age, he discovered that his skin condition precluded him from joining. This proved to be a horrible disappointment to him, but he decided that he would not be daunted. So, instead, he joined the Wyrm Defense Force without really even understanding what the organization did. By admission, they were a security firm that saw to the security needs of any clientel, from entire planets to single people. In truth, the Wyrms were nothing more than mercenaries who fought for money, and often stole on the side too. While Tay had to admit he enjoyed the work, his idealistic dreams of his youth were crushed severely. As much as he tried to stand up and do what was right, Tay often found that the people who were supposed to be on his side were the ones who perpetrated serious crimes against innocent people. Tay was willing to admit that his own grasp of morality might have been a slippery rope, but he firmly believed that preying on those who could not defend or recover from being victimized was unacceptable. Even as Tay rose through the ranks, he encountered fight after fight with people who should have been allies. It all reached a boiling point will Tehran was captain of a frigate called the Ten Claw. He received orders from his fleet Commander, Ricoh Jaress, to ambush and waylay a fleeing refugee ship that was known to be carrying a large amount of currency. This didn't sit well with Tay. The orders came two days before they were supposed to be carried out, and within the space of a few hours, he knew that he could not follow those orders. Which meant, it was time to look for a new job. The Wyrm fleet had a stock pile of valuables waiting to be picked up from a previous job, which Tay was supposed to pick up after completing his mission. He had a sneaking suspicion that the money acquired there had also come from refugees, but he had no way to prove it. He decided that, when he left, he was entitled to a bonus so he might as well just help himself. Tay switched the box for an empty one, and went AWOL for a few days, long enough to stash the money somewhere safe. He "convinced" his crew to abort the mission. The Wyrms were not happy to say the least, but they could never come up with enough conclusive evidence to justify frying him, and even they did not want to risk the fiasco of putting a hit on one of their captains wrongly. Nor could they risk enlisting the Monarchy's help investigating the incident, since it wouldn't do to have it made public knowledge that the Wyrms were hitting refugee ships. As it was, Tay got away with a decent sum of cash relatively clean. Ricoh, however, had set his sights on Riddle, and he knew that there would be trouble if their paths ever crossed again. Furthermore, Ricoh pulled some strings to have Tay's Royal Pilot Endorsement revoked, guaranteeing that he would never be able to work a legitimate flying job again. Of course, as Tay was fond of saying, "No problem exists that enough money can't solve". He purchased a forgery Endorsement, which ended up costing him much more than he had originally anticipated. His original hope had been to buy a ship and hire on a freelancer crew, pursuing his fortunes on his own whims. However, with the money he had left over, there was not much chance of being able to buy much a ship and hire on any crew. Riddle found his way out to Na'Daugn, a border world that lived perpetually in the shadows of Higher Order warships. It was here that he met his love, the Dream Chaser. At the time, the Sonnet class transport was called the Widow Maker, which Riddle assumed was because it made widows out of captain's wives as opposed to any sort of opponents. The current captain of the ship was selling the craft cheap enough that Tay knew a scheme when he saw it. The ship was in sorry shape, but it still had its chain gun turret operational (a rarity for the Sonnets, and even had a small stockpile of ammo to go with it. Unfortunately for Tehran, as soon as he walked inside, he fell in love with the ship. He bought the ship without a second thought. There is always a morning after, however, and Tehran soon had to acknowledge the fact that he would need a full time mechanic just to keep a craft like this in top notch operation. With a good mechanic, he knew that a Sonnet could be a ship to be reckoned with. The next dose of bad news was that he could not afford to hire a good mechanic, much less keep one on the payroll. Most crew members did not much like working for the promise of "maybe some money down the road". Then he met Serenity. Riddle didn't know what species Serenity was, and she didn't even seem to know that much herself. Some sort of canine species, Serenity's motivations seemed more towards seeing the galaxy than accumulating wealth. She was grossly inexperienced, but eagerly enthusiastic and claimed to have a natural talent for mechanical tasks. Under normal circumstances, he probably wouldn't have considered the young, wolf-like girl. But her asking rate was extremely reasonable: room, board, a pittance of a salary, and the right to renegotiate her contract at a later date, if she chose. As she explained it, it was more about exploring the galaxy than seeing how much money she could get. Tehran hired her, somewhat against his better judgement. The girl seemed naive and horribly inexperienced, but he simply couldn't afford any alternative at the time. Serenity, who Riddle immediately took to calling "Pup", proved much better than his rather low expectations. She had a natural affinity for the Dream Chaser, it seemed, and with in a very short while and gained a good working knowledge of the craft. It was after leaving Na'Daugn that the two fo them discovered the stow away. Tehran decided to name the black crow Loki, because the bird quickly proved itself to be of a mischievous nature. Loki had made a nest for himself in a cluster of piping near the captain's quarters, just below the cockpit. Whether the bird had come aboard and nested while the ship was berthed at Na'Daugn, or had been a pet of the previous captain, Riddle did not known, but the animal showed no fear of people and took to perching on Tehran's shoulder, which pleased Tehran to no end. He spent a good amount of time bribing a friendship out of Loki with treats and goodies, and soon began to view the bird not only as a member of the crew, but almost as an embodiment of the spirit of the Dream Chaser. With just Tehran and Serenity (and Loki), they were able to accomplish a few mundane delivery runs. They were far from exciting, but it was enough to keep food on the table, and gave Tehran a little more capital to work with as he looked to expand his crew. Category:Nowhere Bound Universe